Boiler control.



w. s. mum. BOILER CONTROL.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. 17. 1914.

WITNESSES I b a a! f/ 2 7 N1 Y n l fi/ l 1 x Patented Oct. 15,1918.

6 SHEETS-SHEET I.

INVENTOR w. s. ELLl0-TI. B0lLER CONTROL. APPLICATION FILED OCT. H, L9H.

1,281,317. I Batented Oct-.15; 1918.

6 $HEETS-$HEET 2.

W. S. ELLIOTT.

BOILER CONTROL. APPLICATION FILED own. 914.

Patented Oct. 15, 1918.

6 SHEETSSHEET 3.

INVENTOR W. S. ELLIOTT.

BOILER comm. APPLICATION FILED OCT. 17, l9l4 I Patented 00t.15, 191g. 6 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

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- BOILER CONTROL. APPLICATION FILED OCT. 17. 1914.

Patented Oct. 15, 1918.

l s SHEETS-SHEET 5 WITNESSES r I waif/4 M fmahvg WILLIAM S. ELLIOTT, 0F PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA.

BOILER CONTROL.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Got. 15, 3.918..

Application filed October 17, 1914. Serial No. $637,162.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM S. ELLIOTT, a citizen of the United States, residing at Pittsburgh, in the county of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Boiler Controls, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description reference being had to the accompanying-drawings, forming part of this specification, in which Figure l' is an elevation, "largely diagrammatic, showing the application of my invention to a battery of four boilers.

Fig. 2 is an end elevation on a larger scale, and also partly diagrammatic, showing the ap aratus at one of the boilers.

1g. 6 is a front elevation of one of the motors.

Fig. 4 is a sectional view of one of, the m tors.

Fig. 5 is a plan view of the same.

Figs. 6, 7 and 8 are sections taken respectively on the lines VIVI, VII-VII and VIII,VIII of Fig. 4.

Fig. 9 is a detail sectional view of the master valve.

Fig. 10 is a sectional elevation of the casing of the master valve.

Fig. 11 is a section on the line XI of Fig. 10, and Figs. 12 and 13 are diagrammatic views illustrating the operation of the apparatus.

My invention has relation to steam boiler control; and is designed to provide means of simple, efficient and reliable character whereby a group or battery of steam boilers may be automatically controlled in such a way that a substantially uniform steam pressure and substantially a constant efficiency are maintained.

My invention provides apparatus of this character which may be utilized to control the boilers in various ways by suitable connections between the motive parts of the apparatus and any desired mechanism which affects the generative action of the boiler.

The nature of my invention will be bestunderstood by referencejto the accompanyingdrar vings in which I have shown a qirefcrred embodiment thereof and which will now be described, it being premised, however, that the invention is susceptible of various changes in the construction and arrangement of the parts, without depart- =a n inlet port 6.

ing from the spirit and scope of my invention as defined in the appended claims.

In these drawings, the numeral 2 desig- "nates the casing of a master valve which is automatically shifted from one position to another in accordanoewith load conditions on the boilers. This valve may obviously be of any suitable character. In the construction and arrangement shown, the casing 2 is provided with a reciprocating piston valve 3 which is arranged to be shifted from one position to another to control the two ports 4 and 5 with respectto This valve is attached to diaphragm chamber 15 where it is connected to a flexible diaphragm 16. The portion of the diaphragm chamber below the diaphragm has an inlet. pipe connection 17 which leads to the steam header E, to which all the boilers are shown as connected or to any other suitable point in a steam supply line leading from the boilers to be controlled.

It will readily be seen that variation in the steam pressure in accordance with the changes in the load on the boilers will cause a movement of the diaphragm 16, which movement will in turn be transmitted to the bar or lever 8 and thence to the piston valve 3 to shift it from one position to the other, so as to connect one or the other of the ports .4 and 5 with the inlet port 6. This inlet port 6 is connected with a supply of fluid such as water. The shifting movement of the valve is restricted by the stop-collars 18 as Y on a rod 19 conne ted to. the bar or lever 8.

The casing 2 11 ay also be provided with a drain connection 20.

The ports 5 and 4: connect, respectively. with two'pipe lines 21 and 22 which. lead to the group or battery of boilers shown of a vertically arranged casing-23 having at its upper end an inlet port 24 provided with a manually operableshut-ofi' valve 25.

lhis valve 25 also controls an outlet port 25 which leads downwardly through the .wall of the casing and communicates at its lower end with a' valve casing 26. The lower end of the casing 23 has an inlet port 27, prov1ded with a control valve 28, similar to the valve 25. The valve 28 also controls. theoutlet port 29 leading upwardly and into a valve casing30xwhich is a duplicate of the valve casing 26. The valve casing26- has a port 31 opening into acylinder 32 of the casing; and the valve casing 30 has a similar port 33 opening into sald cylinder at a higher level.

"The communication between the outlet peace and the port 33 is controlled by a spring seated valve 34 in the casing '30; and the connection between the port 31 and the branch outlet port 25 is controlled by a similar valve 36 inthe casing.26.= The valve 34 has its stem-engaged by a lifting ban 35 whose end projects into the" upper portion of the cylinder 32; and

the'corresponcling valve in the casing 26 has a similar lifting or opening bar 36 which projects into the lower portion of the cylinder-32.

A s. 37 designates a plunger which reciproengagement with the lower cylinder head 41.

The valves 25 and 28 of all the motors are normally in the open positions indicated, being provided merely for the purpose of providing means whereby the motor of any boiler can be entirely out out of action when necessary. 1

The construction and arrangement of the ports at eachend. of the cylinder is a duplicatenol that at the opposite end, thus Fig. 8 may considered either a section. on the line VIII-VH1 of l looking downwardly; or as 'a section on the line Vllil eel 'lill of the same figure looking upwardly, so far the construction is concerned. 1 The inlet port'24cof each motor is connected directlyor indirectly to the pipe line 21;

while each. or the inlet ports 2? connected directly or indirectly to the pipe line ll ith the parts in the position shown in Fig. 4-..fi11idlil0ll) the pipe 2 will enter the upper 't of the cylinder 32 through the port 24:

and willpass out cfsaid cylinder through the bort 31, valve casing 26 and outlet port 2-5, as soonv asfthe piston. 37 has contact ing provided simply to make all the motors for the boiler furnace. For instance, it may ed with the valve opening bar 36t0 open the valve of the said casing 26. This is assuming that the master valve 3 has been shifted to a position in which the fluid supply is flowing through the pipe line 21. If the master valve has been shifted to the other position then fluid will enter the cylinder 32 through the port'2 l below the piston; and when the piston has been moved upwardly suliiciently far to operate the valve 75.

lifting bar 35, will flow out through the ports 33 and 29. It will nowloe necessary. to describe the connections between'the Inotors of the several boilers. This will be best understood by reference to Figs. 12 and '13. In these figures, the motive devices are marked generally A,-B, C and D to correspond to their respective boilers A, B,'C and D. The motor D has its inlet port 24; directly connected to pipe 21 and its outlet port 25 connected with the inlet port 24 of the motor 0; the outlet port 25 of C is connected with the inlet port 2% of motor 33; the outlet port 25 of B is similarly connect ed with the inlet port 24 of AT and theoutlet port 25 of motor A is plugged, asindi cated at 42. The bottoininlet port/27 of motor A is directly connected to the pipe line 22 and its outlet port 29 is connected to the inlet port 2'? of motor B.. The outlet port 29 of motor B is connected to the inlet port 27 of motor G; and the outlet port 29 of motor G is connected to the inlet port 2'? of motor-Di; and the outlet port 29 of motor D is plugged, as indicated at 4:2". From these connections it will be apparent that the motors are connected in series with respect to both pipes 21 or 22. The plugged connections 42 and 42 may be omitted, be-

alike and interchangeable.

The piston rod 38 of each piston 3-7 is-connected to one or more controlling devices be connected by a cord 43 or the like (see Fig} 2) with a weighted stack damper whereby the position of the damper and. the

iio

furnace draft will be varied in accordance with the extent of movement of the piston. It may also be provided with one or more other connections, such as indicated at 45, and leading to other control devices. For instance, one of these connections may lead to operating mechanism for the ash pit door of the furnace; to the steam blower valve; to the fan engine valve; to the valve or con: troller which controls the operation ofthe stolrcr valve; or,'in the case of a as fired furnace, to the valve 26 (see Fig. 1 which con-v trols the supply of gas to the boiler furnaw. That is to say, the motor of each boilermay be made to operate any one or more, of these different controlling mechanisms. or any. other mechanism which will efiect the gen erativeaction of the boilen'; I l 1 The operation is as follows: Assuming that the pressure in the steam line has been decreased by an increasing demand on the This movement of the piston opens the stack damper or actuates any other boiler furnace device or devices to increase the output'of the boiler. During this time of movement of the piston 87, the fluid in the lower portion of the motor cylinder D passes out through the port 27 and through the valves 28, connection 29 and valve 34 of motor G into the upper portion of the cylinder of that motor, the valve 34 at this time being open and the fluid entering the cylinder be low the piston. When the pilot valve36 of motor D is opened, then-the fluid above the piston 37 of that motor can flow through the connection into the upper part of motor C. The piston of this motor is now in turn actuated to control the corresponding boiler furnace. In the same manner the entire set of motors will be actuated successively in series provided the conditions require it. That is to say, if the'actuation of the motor D does not take care of the increasing demand on the boilers, motor C will be actuated; and if the load still increases, motor B will be actuated, and so on. In Figs. 12 and 13 it is assumed that the actuation of motors D and C has been sutiicient to take care of the increased demand on the boilers and that motors B and A remain inactive, the exhaust from C flowing idly through the cylinders of these motors and into the pipe line 22, in the manner indicated by the arrows in Fig. 12. ll hen the demand on the boilers begins to decrease, the valve 3 is shifted from the position shown in Fig. 12 to that shown in Fig. 13. Pipe line 22 is now connected with the supply connection 6 and pipe line 21 is connected to the exhaust 20. The operation is now the reverse of that before described; that is to say, the incoming pressure fluid flows idly through the motors A and B in the manner indicated in the arrows in Fig. 13 and into the cylinder of motor C where it raises the piston in that cylinder to a.point where the pilot valve 34 of that cylinder is opened. Fluid is then admitted to the cylinder of motor D to raise the piston in that cylinder.

From the foregoing description, it will be seen that the motor devices of the group or battery of boilers are operated successively in series to the extent required by changes in demand .on the boilers. If the change in demand can be taken care of by the cutting out or slowing down of less than the entirevgroup of boilers, then only the necessary number are affected. In this respect, my invention differs radically from other systems of boiler control of which I am familiar and in which all the boilers of a group or battery are simultaneously affected. ll ly invention has the advantage that the boilers not affected remain at'their maximum eiiiciency, instead of all the boilers operating at'a reduced efficiency.

It will also be noted that when the conditions'are reversed, the motor which was I the last to operate under the previous co11- dition is the first to operate reversely under the changed condition. This is a further decided advantage, inasmuch as the last boiler to be cut out or slowed down is in the best condition to. be quickest restored to its maximum efficiency.

My invention, therefore, provides a system of boiler control which can be relied upon to accurately and automatically take care of widely varying demanils on the battery of boilers. For instance, in the case of a peak load coming more or less suddenly on or ofi' from the boilers, the invention will operate automatically to 'take care of the changes in conditions.

It will be apparent from Figs, 12 and 13 that if desired the'pilot valves 34 and 86 can be omitted, and the pistons 37 made to act as their own valves. I prefer, however, to employ these pilot valves as they provide positive means for controlling the operation of successive cylinders, notwithstand- 100 ing considerable wear on the pistons which might result in leakage and failure of accurate operation. I

It will be readily understood that I do not wish to limit myself to the particular 105 valve and motor construction and arrangement which I have. herein shown and described, as these can obviously be widely varied without departing from the spirit I and scope of my invention as set forth in 110 the appended claims. Thus any suitable type of motor may be employed, with means whereby it will operate the furnace regulators in reverse conditions, the master controller may be widely varied, and other 115 changes may be made.

It will also be understood that while I have shown myinvention applied to a group or battery of four boilers it can be applied to a larger or smaller number as 120 may be necessary in any particular case.

I claim:

1. Apparatus for controlling a plurality of boilers, comprising regulating means for the furnace of each boiler, a motive device 125 operatively connected to the regulating means, and means controlled, by the'combinea boiler pressure for operating the motiv changes in such pressure, there being also means whereby the number or motive devices which will be successively operated under any given change in such pressure is dependent upon the extent of such' change.

2. Apparatus for controlling a plurality of boilers, comprising regulating means for each boiler furnace, a motive device operatively connected to the regulating means of each furnace, and means controlledby the boiler .pressure'for operating the motive devices, said devices having controlling means for effecting the successive operation of the motive devices in a predetermined order to the eXtent required by the changes in such pressure, said motive vdevices and controlling means having means whereby the number of motive devices which will be successively operated under any given change in such pressure is dependent upon and in direct relation to the extent of such changes.

3. Apparatus for controlling. a plurality of boilers, comprising regulating means for each boiler furnace, a motive device operatively connected to the regulating means of each furnace, means controlled by the boiler pressure for operating the motive devices successively in a; predetermined order to the extent required by changes in such pressure,

'and' controlling means whereby. the motive devices operate successively in reverse order under opposite conditions of pressure, said motive devices and controlling means havmg means whereby the number of motive devices which Wlll be successively operated under any given change in such pressure is dependent upon and in direct relation to the extent of such change.

4. Apparatus for controlling a plurality of boilers, comprising regulating means for the furnace of each boiler, a motive device operatively connected to each regulating means, a master controller for controlling the direction of operation of the motive. devices, and other controllingmeans for the motive devices for successively operating them in a predeterminedorder, said mo tive devices and controlling means having means whereby the number of motive devices which Will be successively operated under any given change in such pressure is dependent upon and in direct relation to the extent of such change.

Apparatus for controlling a plurality of boilers, comprising regulating means for the furnace of each boiler, a motive device .-operatively connected to each regulatihg 'n ieans to-operate the same in reverse direction, a master controller for controlling the direction of operation of said regulating means, and-other controlling means for the motivedevices for successively operating.

them in seriesusaid controlling means er? fect1ug"areverse order or operation of the regulating meansin opposite directions. t"

' extent of such change.

6. Apparatus of the character described,

comprising separate regulating means for each of a plurality of boiler furnaces, a fluid operating motor operatively connected to each regulating means, a fluid supply system in-which the motors are connected in.

series, and a master valv'e i'or said supply system controlled by the boiler pressure, 7 Apparatus of the character described,

comprising separate regulating means. for each of a plurality of boiler 'furnaces,.a 3

fluid actuated motor operatively connected. to each regulating means, a fluidsup'plysysfl 1 fluid operating motoigoperatively connectedv 1 to each regulating means, a fluidf supply system in which the-motors are connected inseries, and a master valve for said supply system controlled by the boiler pressure, 7

each ofsaid motors having self controlled pilot Valves. .i 'ii'.

9. Apparatus of the character described, comprising separate regulating means for each of a plurality of boiler furnaces,- a

fluid operating motor operatively'connected I to each'regulating-means, a fluid supply sys- I tem in which the motors i are connected in series, and a master valve foreaid supply system controlled by the boiler pressure, the

series connections between thecylinderSof 1 the motors having pilot valves, and means 10s for causing the pistons of the motors to automatically control said valves.

10. The combination with 'a plurality-of boilers aud t-heir furnaces, of furnace regulating devices p ative by changes in the 5 pressure of the combined steam output of the boilers to successively aiieet their geinerating actionin a-predetermined.orderfsaid devices having means whereby the number of boilers so aifected byan'y such cliangeis dependent upontheextent c'fi such change;

11. The combination with: a plurality-of boilers and their furnaces, ofa regulating device'ifor affecting the steam generating action of; each,oi"-a number of said' boilers independently of all the other boilers, means for utilizing changes in the combined steam pressure of all theboilers to operate said regulating devices successively in a predeterminedf' order, and means .wherebypthe number of regulating devices operated byreason of any such change depends upon the 12. The combination boilers and their furnaces, of a regiflatmg,

device for 'afi ecting the steam generat ng,

with rue-area 1 chan e in the load on the system supported by d boilers operates so many only of the said devices in a predetermined order as is necessary to decrease or increase the steam supply sutliciently to compensate for that particular change.

14-. The combination With a plurality of boilers and boiler furnaces, of furnace controlling devices operated successively in a predetermined order by changes in the load on the system supplied by said boilers, and means vrrzereby the number of'regulators which Will, operate upon any given change in the load is dependent upon the extent of such change.

15. The combination with a plurality of boilers and boiler furnaces. of furnace controlling devices operated successively in a predetermined order by changes in the load on the system supplied by said boilers, and means whereby the regulating devices of different furnaces will be operated successively as such load decreases or increases.

16. The combination with a plurality of .0 boilers and boiler furnaces, of furnace controlling devices operated successively in a predetermined order by changes in the load on the .ystein supplied by said boilers, and means whereby each successive regulating device requires a greater change in such load than the preceding one to effect its operation.

17. The combination with a plurality of boilers and boiler furnaces. of furnace conoiling devices operated successively in a predetermined order changes in the load n the system supplied by said boilers, and means whereby some of the regulating devices will operate under a relatively small such load, While others require .r change to effect their operation.

trolling devices, and means whereby any 18. The combination with a plurality of boilers and their furnaces, of a regulating device for each furnace for afi ecting its fuel consumption, a master controller, means controlled by changes in the load on the system supplied by said boilers for shifting said master controller, and means governed by the master controller for actuating said regulating devices, and means whereby each succeeding regulating device cannot operate untila preceding device or devices has been operated.

19. The combination. with a plurality of boilers and boiler furnaces, of furnace controlling devices operated by changes in the load on the system supplied by said boilers, and means whereby ,each succeeding regulating device cannot operate until all the preceding ones have been operated.

- 20. The combination of a plurality of steam boilers, a furnace for each boiler, a steam receiver common to all of the boilers,

a combustion-controlling device for each boiler, and pressure responsive means in communication with the steam receiver and adapted to operate the said combustion-com trolling devices successively and in a determined order according to variations of pressure in the steam receiver.

21. The, combination with a plurality of regulators for controlling boiler furnace combustion and thereby steam generation, of means responsive to the pressureof the generated steam and adapted to operate the said combustion regulators successively and in a predetermined order according to variations in such steam pressure.

22. The combination With a plurality of regulators for controllin combustion and thereby steam generation, of actuating devices for said regulators controlled by variations in the pressure of the generated steam, said devices having means whereby the several regulators will be operated successively in a predetermined order, the number of the regulators which Will be operated under any given variation in steam pressure being dependent upon the extent of such variation.

In testimony whereof, l have hereunto setmy hand.

WILLIAM s. nLLroT'r.

Witnesses Gno. H. PARMELEE, H. M. CORWIN. 

